After Promising Brexit on March 29th 108 Times, May Now Requests Delay to June

Pound down as Brexit uncertainty drags
AFP
Oliver JJ Lane

Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May has revealed her new promised date for Brexit, asking the European Union, Parliament, and the British people to trust her to deliver by the new June 30th deadline despite her having previously promised a departure in March over 100 times.

The UK Parliament voted in favour of an extension to the Article 50 process last week, which in effect means cancelling the legally enshrined March 29th Brexit date and entering into further negotiations with the European Union to set a new time for Britain to officially leave the bloc in the future.

The Prime Minister wrote to the European Commission Wednesday morning to make that request, working to enable the British political classes to undermine the promises made to deliver Brexit after the 2016 referendum.

Speaking in Parliament Wednesday, Theresa May said: “As Prime Minister, I couldn’t consider a date beyond the 30th of June.”

However, speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions, veteran Brexiteer Peter Bone pointed out the duplicity in the Prime Minister’s claims, noting the frequency with which she had already promised a March date to Parliament — revealing she had said so in the chamber 108 times. He said Wednesday:

In June 2016, the country voted to leave the European Union. In February 2017, this house voted by a majority of 384 to trigger Article 50. The Prime Minister in this house has said 108 times that we will be leaving the European Union on the 29th of March.

Last week, two thirds of her MPs voted against any extension to Article 50. Prime Minister, if you continue to apply for an extension to Article 50, you will be betraying the British people. If you don’t, you will be honouring their instruction. Prime Minister, it is entirely down to you. History will judge you at this moment. Prime Minister; which is it to be?

Responding to Bone, the Prime Minister’s best defence was merely that “I have always wanted us to be able to leave on the 29th of March”, but her belief that the United Kingdom should depart the EU only on the terms she had got agreed with the Union overrode that promise.

Yet the PM’s new plan may already be imperilled, as behind-the-scenes briefings in Brussels suggest that European leaders will reject the Prime Minister’s request, as the European Union either wants a much shorter delay of just a few weeks, or a much longer one of one or two years. Wire service Reuters reports having seen an internal European Union note which states that Theresa May has a “binary” choice of either leaving before the May 23rd European Parliament elections or staying much longer and contesting that vote.

Further, a short extension may only be considered if May’s so-called deal — already rejected twice by parliament — soon passes, which remains highly unlikely. French magazine Le Point now reports that president Emmanuel Macron will reject May’s request outright, and given the decision has to be unanimous between all 27 EU member states, the Prime Minister may be now steering the UK towards a no-deal Brexit against her own will.

The moves to constantly delay Brexit, and to ignore the 108-times promised March 29th departure date has generated attention over the state of British democracy worldwide. Breitbart London reported on the remarks of senior figures close to U.S. President Donald Trump, National Security Advisor John Bolton and the President’s son Donald Trump Junior this week when they both expressed their concerns about the 2016 Brexit vote not being delivered by the British political class.

Speaking to British television, Mr Bolton rhetorically asked “When is the political class going to give effect to that vote?” Mr Trump Jr made similar remarks, saying of Brexit: “With the deadline fast approaching, it appears that democracy in the UK is all but dead.”

Oliver JJ Lane is the editor of Breitbart London — Follow him on Twitter and Facebook

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